Give Four Designers a Little Fabric...
An experiment in creativity leads to terrific garments and clues for us all

Question: What happens when you invite four designers to take part in a garment-design exercise, then ask each to keep a journal of her creative process? Answer: You get four wonderful outfits, but more important, you discover bits of wisdom that can help all sewers turn on the creative juices when they want to use their techniques and talents in a special garment. That's exactly what we wanted to explore in setting up this experiment. So enjoy the ride-and add a creative to your next design.

Threads Design Challenge

Make believe that you'll travel to Paris, we said to the four designers Shown above), to give an important presentation to an audience of 100 fashion insiders. While in France, you'll also attend the wedding of an old friend, and, finally, a party on the sandy beaches of the French Riviera at Nice. Here's the challenge: there's space in your suitcase for only one outfit, which you need to design and sew following these rules:

Threads invited designers Bird Ross, Annette Ames, Diane Ericson, and Nancy Ericksom to join our design experiment and use at least three fabrics from this challenging palette (rayon, cotton gauze, rayon matte jersey, twill-weave rayon, and a linen/cotton blend). The designers premiered their creations last fall at the Original Sewing & Craft Expo in Minneapolis.

-The Editors

- from Threads 71 (July 1997), pp. 67-68
  Copyright 1997 Threads Magazine

View Bird's Solution